Italian driver Max Rendina was third in the WRC 2 Championship Group N Cup when he reached the overnight halt yesterday and started Day Two focused on moving into second place as quickly as possible. With only five seconds to make up, Rendina confidently took to SS6, the first stage of the day, and had snatched the runner-up spot by the time he was only halfway through the opening test.

Unfortunately, in the same stage, he landed on a stone following a jump and damaged the underneath of his Ralliart Italy-run Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X. Alerted to the problem by a loud noise coming from the bottom of his car, Rendina decided to slow down to avoid making the situation worse. Investigating the problem between the stages, Rendina did a makeshift repair on the road section to SS7. His efforts paid off when on SS7, the 39.16 kilometre Amboy - Yacanto stage, he increased the gap to third place to 1 minute 24 seconds. Pleased with his performance and beginning ato find a rhythm, Rendina returned to the Rally Argentina Service Park for midday service where the Ralliart Italy technicians repaired his Mitsubishi ready for the afternoon loop.

With his car back on top form, Rendina headed out to SS8, topped the Group N Cup leaderboard on that stage, and moved into the to rival and local hero Juan Carlos Alonso who was leading the Group N Cup pack. Unfortunately, disaster struck on SS9 when Rendina hit a rock and irreparably damaged his suspension, forcing him to retire for the day.

Rendina will restart tomorrow under the Rally 2 regulation and is still focused on taking each stage as it comes – including the famous SS12 / 14 El Condor - Copina test – and putting in the best performance he can: “I’m really sorry that I made a mistake on SS9. My confidence and feeling was increasing on the tough terrain. However, it’s still very hard to find the right compromise between speed and caution, especially since it’s my first time competing in Argentina. I’m learning with every kilometre though and I hope that tomorrow I’ll be able to put those lessons into practice!”

Ralliart Italy Team Manager Bruno De Pianto is disappointed for Rendina, but hopeful that he will put in a strong performance tomorrow: “It might be Max’s first time out here at Rally Argentina, but it isn’t mine, and one lesson I’ve learnt is that everything can change at any moment. Max and Mario will be back in the mix tomorrow, which means it could be all change once again. It’s a hard event, especially for a novice, but I feel confident that they’ll come back fighting!”